Marketplace®
Every story is an economic story

David Brancaccio

"Future Effects" Senior Correspondent

David Brancaccio is Marketplace’s “future effects” senior correspondent. In this role, David aims to explore how short-term thinking can impact our personal finances, innovation, government policy, and more.

David worked as the host and senior editor of “Marketplace Morning Report” from 2013 to 2026, where he focused on the regulation of financial markets, the role of technology in labor markets, the history of innovation, digital privacy, sustainability, social enterprises, and financial vulnerability in older adults. David freelanced for Marketplace in 1989 before becoming the program’s European correspondent based in London in 1990.

David hosted the evening program from 1993-2003, then anchored the award-winning public television news program “Now” on PBS after a period co-hosting with journalist Bill Moyers. David has co-produced and appeared in several documentaries, including “Fixing the Future,” about alternative approaches to the economy, and “On Thin Ice,” about climate change and water security, with mountaineer Conrad Anker. David is the author of “Squandering Aimlessly,” a book about personal values and money. He enjoys moderating public policy discussions, including at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, and the Camden Conference in Maine.

David is from Waterville, Maine, and has degrees from Wesleyan and Stanford universities. Honors include the Peabody, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University, Emmy, and Walter Cronkite awards. He is married to Mary Brancaccio, a poet and educator. They have three offspring, all adults. He likes making beer and building (and launching) pretty big rockets. Among his heroes are Edward R. Murrow and Wolfman Jack.

Latest from David Brancaccio

  • Medicare Advantage plans are becoming more and more popular, but what exactly do they entail?  We got the details from Dr. Fred Hyde, an independent consultant in health care finance and adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
    FatCamera via Getty Images

    One health consultant walks us through the benefits and drawbacks of increasingly popular Medicare Advantage plans.

    Read MoreDownload
  • A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink 4-20 mission, launches from Space Launch Complex 40 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on September 4, 2022. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

    From the BBC World Service: Ukraine’s digital minister tells us how the country is doubling its use of Elon Musk’s Starlink network to overcome infrastructure damage. Plus, Canada sanctions three wealthy Haitian businessmen for links to criminal gangs. And, how do you clean the world’s oceans? We hear from The Ocean Cleanup’s founder Boyan Slat.

    Read MoreDownload
  • The labor market might not be as strong as it looks
    Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

    Solid wage and job growth showed up in the most recent jobs report, but some of that might be an illusion on the power of the labor market. For more insight, Julia Coronado of MacroPolicy Perspectives talks with us. Elsewhere, China appears to be easing up its zero-COVID restrictions. Then we learn more about the diffusion index, which could offer even more clues about the job market.

    Read MoreDownload
  • An employee works on a oil tanker near the Ruhr Oel petroleum refineries of BP Gelsenkirchen GmbH in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on March 8, 2022. - After the EU states decided on an import ban of Russian coal, an import ban of oil from Russia to the European Union could follow.
    Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images

    Restrictions designed to limit Russian oil exports take effect today, but there are questions as to how much actual effect they will have. Also, we look at what the wage rise reflected in Friday’s jobs report tells us. Chris Farrell talks to us about what separates Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

    Read MoreDownload
  • Estonia's Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Riina Sikkut answers journalists' questions before an extraordinary European Union energy ministers meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on November 24, 2022. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP) (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)

    From the BBC World Service: Oil prices rise as an E.U. embargo on seaborne Russian oil comes into effect, along with a price cap. Estonian minister Riina Sikkut tells us it’s not low enough – but it’s a start. Elsewhere, China begins to relax its zero-COVID policy. And, we find out how Kenyan farmers are adapting to climate change.

    Read MoreDownload
  • The economics of a Christmas classic

    Econ Extra Credit newsletter #128

    Read More
  • It’s another better-than-expected day for the U.S. labor market
    Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

    Job numbers from the Labor Department came in strong, and to help us make more sense of them, we are joined by Chris Low of FHN Financial. Elsewhere, the saga over Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan has reached the halls of the Supreme Court. Then, we examine the Fed’s balancing act of taming inflation while also trying to keep people working.

    Read MoreDownload
  • What does the future hold for China’s zero-COVID approach?
    Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    We take a deeper dive into the policy, which has been the catalyst for a swelling of unrest and protests around the country. Elsewhere, the BBC reports on how BP is being urged to aid victims of the war in Ukraine.

    Read MoreDownload
  • Poland is particularly keen for EU countries to agree to a price cap that's below $60 dollars to reduce Moscow's income stream from oil exports.
    MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: Not everyone is on board. Poland’s government is said to be seeking a cap that’s lower than the $60 broadly agreed to by European Union countries. And, some highlights from the last five years of our reporting from Turkey, Mozambique, India and the U.K.

    Read MoreDownload
  • The Fed might ease up on interest rate hikes
    Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Inflation actually cooled off, just a touch, according to a key measure. We talk to Michael Hewson of CMC Markets in London about what slowing interest rate hikes could mean for an economy. Also, the head of the European Council met up with China’s president.

    Read MoreDownload